The program had been approved.
After Director Yang gave his written approval, they immediately started preparations without even waiting for the final review.
When the production crew found out they were about to take over a new program, they were collectively stunned.
"Weren't we supposed to be recording the celebrity special? If we're doing a new program, what happens to the recording?"
"Before Sunday, there's no time to prepare no matter what!"
Everyone hadn't seen the proposal yet, so their faces were full of confusion and doubt.
With just the manpower in their production crew, it was impossible to split up and do two programs.
Let alone the staff under them, even the directing team wasn't enough.
It wasn't until the production crew held a meeting that everyone understood what was going on.
"The recording for the program's celebrity special will be temporarily paused and moved to next week's recording. Go communicate with Huang Zhangwei, make sure to get his understanding, and don't let any misunderstandings arise..."
Director Wu Jin first arranged the recording work for 'I Love Remembering Lyrics'.
The celebrity special originally scheduled for this week's recording would be pushed to the next episode. They still had a few episodes in stock, so they weren't worried about the broadcast being interrupted.
After that, he immediately began to explain 'Challenge the Microphone'.
It was only after listening all the way to the end that the production crew realized there was actually such a maneuver.
From now on, their production crew had to do two programs every week?
This was a bit too difficult!
The preparation work before recording, the editing and post-production after recording.
Their single production crew would be tired as dogs if they did all this.
Director Wu Jin also knew about this problem and said:
"Right now is a special time, so we need special treatment. After finishing the first episode, we will add more people to our production crew. At that time, we will be split into Group One and Group Two, and the two programs will proceed simultaneously with cross-recording."
Hearing this arrangement, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; at least they wouldn't be working day and night.
Time waits for no one. The directing team divided up the work and began their respective preparations.
Chen Ran and a few planners held a meeting to discuss the details. The first episode was especially important; whether they could interest the audience depended on this episode.
Some say a program gets better as it goes, but Chen Ran wanted it to be the best right from the start!
……
When Director Zhang received the news, he still couldn't quite believe it.
But the news came from the entertainment channel, and he had also found the project approval internally. The chief planner listed was Chen Ran, so there naturally couldn't be any mistake.
"What is going on?" Director Zhang couldn't understand how Chen Ran managed to fight for the program.
Doubts aside, it didn't stop him from being happy.
The day before yesterday, he was still urging Chen Ran to strive for it, but after learning that the entertainment channel wouldn't allow it, he gave up the idea.
He called Chen Ran at noon and didn't hear him mention it, who knew such a surprise would suddenly arrive now.
Director Zhang wanted to make a call to ask about it, but thinking of the current situation at the entertainment channel, since Chen Ran had secured the program, he definitely had to start preparing immediately, so he abandoned the idea right then and there.
He asked an acquaintance about the situation and found out that Chen Ran proposed creating a new program based on 'I Love Remembering Lyrics', which could take over the broadcasting slot by Sunday.
This news surprised him, but also made him somewhat worried. He had never heard of such a program before.
Setting aside whether the preparation would affect 'I Love Remembering Lyrics', the key was if the two programs had a high degree of similarity, would the audience buy it?
A moment later, Director Zhang gave up this worry. Since they got it, it was a good thing. Before a program was approved, it not only required a meeting for discussion, but also needed written approval from the director above. If they made the decision, they must have considered it.
A single production crew simultaneously doing two variety shows—anyone who heard this felt it was somewhat absurd.
It wasn't just Director Zhang who thought it was unrealistic; everyone who knew about it was wondering if the entertainment channel had lost their minds from being too busy.
It didn't matter if one 'Qingying's Lecture' fell, but if it implicated 'I Love Remembering Lyrics', that would be truly not worth the loss.
"I don't know what the entertainment channel is thinking."
"I guess they're also anxious. No one expected the program to be suspended suddenly. If one broadcasting slot is ruined, the channel's revenue will decrease a lot."
"If the program is bad, it will only create a vicious cycle. Someone as shrewd as Director Yang shouldn't be unable to see this."
Discussions continued outside. They naturally thought of the entertainment channel's difficulties, but couldn't understand this method of handling things.
……
The people in the 'I Love Remembering Lyrics' production crew were all burying their heads in hard work, and none of them had the energy to pay attention to what others were saying.
Everyone was so busy they were spinning in circles, dividing their forces into several routes and proceeding simultaneously without a single one stopping.
First of all, they had to run to KTVs. Most KTVs nowadays had pitch scoring. They needed to cooperate with KTVs to select customers whose singing scores reached a certain level to participate in the program.
This part was actually ready-made. With the precedent of 'I Love Remembering Lyrics' here, as long as they let the word out, many chain KTVs would come knocking on their door begging for cooperation.
Secondly was the equipment. Some equipment not interchangeable with 'Remembering Lyrics' still needed to be prepared from scratch. Preparing it wasn't troublesome, just a bit time-consuming.
Chen Ran and a few planners were scrutinizing the details, the setup of every segment, and the song library for each episode.
The selected songs had to be familiar to the audience so they would feel a sense of participation when watching the program.
Although the team was busy, they consistently followed the plan step-by-step.
After finalizing the KTVs on the first day, they immediately set about selecting contestants to participate in the program. They got it mostly done that same day and coordinated the times for them to attend the program.
Later on, they began to make some changes to the stage set and lighting. This was so the audience wouldn't feel like this was just 'I Love Remembering Lyrics'.
Everyone was busy and dizzy for several days, right up until the early hours of Friday morning, when the trial recording was completed and everything was normal, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
At least the hardest preparation work was finished!
Many people didn't go back to sleep, just making do with lying down backstage. The plan was to start recording the program on Friday morning. Going back to sleep now wouldn't result in a good rest and would only waste time instead.
In the morning, Chen Ran woke up groggily; he had fallen asleep leaning directly against a chair last night.
On the table next to him, Lin Fan was sprawled across it, sleeping soundly.
Chen Ran sniffled. His eyes were dry, and his head felt like it had a weight hanging from it; it was very uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the room was small and the temperature wasn't low, otherwise he might have already caught a cold.
As the sky brightened, everyone got up to prepare. After a short rehearsal, the audience was invited in, and they began recording the program.
With sufficient preparation, naturally nothing would go wrong with the program recording.
There was a small interlude in the middle: a contestant on stage was a bit nervous and couldn't open their mouth several times.
Recording like this naturally wouldn't work. The director went up and did a long time of ideological work, and only after comforting them with a few words did things improve a bit.
Because of this delay, by the time the program was recorded and everything was arranged, it was already evening.
"I will accompany the editing and strive to finish post-production tomorrow. You've all worked hard, you go back and rest first." Director Wu Jin was also tired, but still had to keep persevering.
Chen Ran nodded. There was nothing for him to do temporarily, so he got off work along with Lin Fan and the others.
"Finally able to get a good sleep!" Lin Fan sighed with emotion. "I'm leaving first, I can't hold on anymore!"
Chen Ran waved at him. His nose was a little itchy, he sneezed, his body staggered a bit, and he felt top-heavy.
"You have a cold?"
"No, just caught a slight chill!" Chen Ran didn't react and said offhandedly.
Then he felt something was wrong; since when did Lin Fan turn into a woman?
He abruptly raised his head and saw Zhang Fanzhi with furrowed brows.